The impact of mandatory continuous professional development and training to deliver the new contract on female community pharmacists: A qualitative study

This paper discusses female community pharmacists' views on continuous professional development (CPD) and the impact of the new community pharmacy contract on training requirements. It describes interviewees' experiences of accessing, completing and recording training including CPD. Additionally, it discusses incentives for completing additional training, and considers the likely effect of mandatory CPD on participation in the workforce. The study involved face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 30 female community pharmacists from a diverse range of backgrounds. This study found that although most interviewees agreed that CPD was necessary, the majority found accessing, completing and recording training challenging. Most interviewees had avoided entering CPD online offering a range of reasons. This study suggests that some female community pharmacists would benefit from information technology (IT) coaching, internet access in the workplace and time in work to enter CPD online. It seems however that most interviewees did not intend to quit pharmacy in response to mandatory CPD.